Guardian Partners Inc. Makes New $672,000 Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 14,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $672,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Collier Financial purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 152.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the period. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 68.2% during the 4th quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $42.47 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $44.81 and its 200 day moving average is $43.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $34.15 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $322.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.64.

Bank of America Company Profile

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates in four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, and Global Markets.